developing a design contract

[artbot]

I'll be working on a graphic design contract over the next week and i'd like any input/wisdom that's out there concerning design fees, fab fees, deposits etc.

I work in the art consulting field. And we do (unfortunately) a lot of these "legacy walls". They are graphically intensive and many times include founders photos, famous
doctors, etc. (we call them ego panels at a certain point when the whole branch of a company starts mentioning "can you make me look younger/thinner").

The problem is some of these become pet projects for these clients. They can take almost a year to complete the design, chipping away at it every few months. I've never worked
without a deposit. But my parent company does design work without one. This is ruining us on the design side. We really shouldn't be making these things at all (it's not the core
model. ...but i'm stuck with them).

If anyone has a design contract that they can part with that I can read/use as a template that would be a real time saver. I'm also working up some kind of document that will discuss
image standards to educate my clients about what a "print ready" image vs one that needs work (and how to charge for this clean up).

 

[John_jcmotorsportsnj]

Either you have recieved a private message or no one wants to part with theirs. Im kinda looking for something like that.
Im glad you posted this thread. Too bad nobody wants to give up their secrets.

 

[fresh]

In the same vain, I'm trying to figure out if a consulting fee would work out in some cases. How many times have we spent hours trying to problem-solve and price a project, only to have it squashed before any money changes hand?

I don't know what huge companies do... I've had a few jobs that were potentially in the $5-10K range that I spent time researching and quoting, and then they always fall through. Perhaps I'm just not that convincing, but for the few that come to mind, they either went with something MUCH less pricy from someone else (that we could have done, too, duh.) or nothing at all (thanks to the towns insane sign ordinances.) So anyway, I came up with the idea that a new client will get X amount of my time to pick my brain. In order to actually spec and quote the job, there will be a fee that goes toward the cost of the sign. I kinda feel that if they are serious about it, there shouldn't be a problem with paying for the proposal.

On the flip side, when you get into something that is very custom, how do you deal with pricing it? I always think people need to know the total cost going in, but in construction, there are often unexpected charges, etc. I think that I could save a lot of time if my estimate was an estimate of the price instead of a rock-solid quote.